A planeload of Polish tourists found themselves in the middle of a terrorist alert late Wednesday, when a Turkish pilot bringing them home mistakenly landed on a NATO airstrip in western Poland.

The plane, a Boeing 737 operated by a Turkish charter company, was supposed to land at a civilian airport, Lawica, in Poznan. Instead, it touched down at a military airfield, Krzersiny, 15 kilometers away, where anti-terror security forces immediately surrounded the aircraft.

Military authorities say security police checked the crew and passengers for several hours. The French news agency quotes authorities as saying the female pilot told them she must have made a mistake in choosing where to touch down.

The aircraft was later cleared to fly to the civilian airport for its scheduled landing.